The Truth of a Shadow
by Observer Shade
Summary: The Uchiha massacre was performed expertly. In fact, had he not gotten so unlucky, Itachi would have succeeded. However, he did not... This is the story of Faran Kredo, the boy who Itachi missed and the fourth Uchiha. The story of a book in a ruined world of shades and shadows.
1. Prologue

The rogue shade looked straight at me. For some reason I got the feeling that he could see me as easily as I could see him. Then my heart gave a leap, as he did something that no other shade had ever done before. He spoke in a voice that I could hear. His voice came out in a hollow sound, as if it came from everywhere and nowhere, a voice that had no substance... a voice without a voice.

"Are you some fragment of my imagination? I don't know. I have grown so far from this world, I don't know if I see you, or if I imagine you. It is not important. If you can see and hear me, hold up your left hand."

I did nothing, so startled was I that this shade had spoken that my wits had deserted me. The shade looked slightly disturbed, and then sad.

"A shame, I hoped to have some company before I... well to be honest, I do not know what will happen to me."

The shade turned to the only object in the deep cave, a small, dusty and battered book. He then opened a single palm, and began to move it very slowly across his body. I saw the many forms of him of course, but they were all motionless but for the hand. The time span representing a day passed in a minute and his hand was only half way across his body. Another day, another minute and his arm was all but at its full reach, his hand almost at its furthest point from his body. And there, I came to my senses and slowly held up my left hand. The shade smiled, and I swear I saw a tear drop from his eye before his face became grim and determined, and his arm reached its full extension.

"Truth manipulation, long term ultimate change!" he yelled.

I realised that this must have been some sort of technique, but it had had no hand seals, only this prolonged movement of his hand. It was then that I heard the sound of the universe being torn in two, reality being unravelled. I do not know how to describe the sound to you; it is not one that the average human can hear.

The shade was gone. The cavern was empty but for myself and the book which I now slowly approached. Blowing some of the dust off of it, I read the front cover. This was the inscription on it.

"This journal belongs to: Faran Uchiha Kredo Kraken Uchiha Kredo... me"

I slowly opened the journal. The pages were empty. Then, just as I was about to close it, words faded into view on it.

"The legacy of... oh don't start Kraken, me, us, whatever you call a person with split personalities and different names for each. This is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Turn the page at your own peril, what you may learn here is both dangerous and useful. I take no responsibility for what happens to you Gikyo."

I gasped, and took a step back. My name is Gikyo, but more about me later. Taking a deep breath, I stepped forwards and turned the page. That was the moment when my fate became sealed. This is what I found.

Author's note: this story is linked to my "Awakening by Remembrance" story, but I will not reveal how yet. I will simply say that this is essentially "book" two of the series.

Anyway, I don't expect to have you hooked by the end of the prologue, but if you do like it, please review and let me know.


	2. Chapter 1

Faran Uchiha was born seven years and ten months before the Uchiha massacre.

His life even before the massacre was a living hell. He was banned from having friends, going into view of a person without his mother being close, oh, and his father hated him. His father had looked Faran up and down at birth, seen his scrawny body and his lack of muscle, and had decided that he was a runt, not fit to carry his father's name. Thus, his father had all but disowned Faran, and had trained the second born, a well built boy with a mischievous nature and no idea of Faran's torment by his father. His name was Mizoshu. Both were well hidden. Both did not partake in the hatred and revenge that the Uchiha clan was known for. Only the last born, Krachi, could not restrain his anger after birth and was sent away to a distant relative to train. His anger though became harnessed in a different way. His hatred was of potatoes... Faran did not see him for a long time after Krachi turned three. That was when he went away to train with a distant relative of the family.

Mizoshu became Faran's only real "friend" if you can call a brother a friend. He was basically the same to Faran as most brothers of about the same age are. (This was even though Mizoshu was a full year younger). Due to the fact that Faran's parents did not agree with the Uchiha view of revenge, Faran was utterly hidden, not allowed to be taught a thing by the Uchiha. Only Mizoshu could go out, and see the world beyond the clearing that the two used as a training area and the invisible house. Only Mizoshu was equipped with the knowledge needed to survive on his own outside of parental supervision. Mizoshu was allowed friends, allowed a life. Faran... well, he may as well have been born in a zoo for all he saw of the outside world. What he did see only brought him pain. The more he saw, the more he yearned to be part of the world that he could see only as an observer, an outsider. Due to the fact that he distanced himself from others, he found them distancing themselves from him. He was a figure in a shadow, the ending of a game or a conversation, an awkward silence, and an empty playground. His only comfort came from a lullaby his mother would sing to him. In it, she called him the creed of the Uchiha clan, the one who would someday have more friends than all of them. This thought and the hope for a brighter tomorrow, was all that kept him going.

It is amazing when it comes down to it, what a young boy truly can live off. Faran lived off the bare necessities, such as food and water, his mother's love and the hope for an end to his despair. Then, when he was seven years, and ten months old, something happened that would take even these things from him, and throw him into a whirl of events, which he was doomed to never walk out of.


	3. Chapter 2

2. Death came for Faran that day, the same death that came for his whole clan.

Of course, he heard the screams, and was running before he even knew where he was going. Allow me to back-track. Faran was training when death passed over the Uchiha clan. His clearing was strewn with five Farans, all on their backs and panting. Of course, only one was real. When his mother arrived, Faran was hoping that she would not be able to tell which was real. It was when he heard the screams, that he leapt to his feet. Faran was running, running without knowing where and why. Running to help, running because sprinting was not fast enough. He ran as only a ninja can run, but it was still too slow for him. He climbed a tree and began travelling through treetops. He was making progress, but it was only as he half fell out of the trees and onto the streets, saved only by a roll as he fell, that he realised that death had been here. As he saw the bodies, each with a kunai in their back, or a shuriken in their necks, or some part of their body bent out of proportion, it sunk in. Each had only one similarity; each was wearing the Uchiha crest. He knew that death was here. He knew that it had come for every Uchiha in the village. As this clicked in his brain, a more primal thought came bursting to the forefront of his mind. This thought was the instinct to survive. The instinct to hide and safe one's self. He heard the footsteps, and was on top of the roof and behind the lip before the man had rounded the corner.

The man was young, at the oldest he was in his twenties. He had black scraggly hair, not too unlike Faran's in its style. He was pale faced, and had a katana strapped to his back with blood stains streaked all down it. The man also had one other defining feature. He had an active mangekyou sharingan.

Faran's thoughts were a blur of motion. He had two possible theories in his head. These were: 1, that this man had killed the whole clan, and 2, that this man had fought and possibly killed the person who had killed the whole clan. Faran's indecision possibly saved his life, for as he lay there trying to figure out the truth, the face of the man came into focus. It was Itachi Uchiha, the most powerful ninja of the Uchiha clan. It was as Faran's small head processed this, that the second figure rounded the opposite corner of the street. Faran recognised him instantly. Sasuke Uchiha, Mizoshu's best friend, and Itachi's younger brother. The boy of eight locked gazes with Itachi for an instant, before his eyes moved upwards to the sword at Itachi's back. This was the moment that it all clicked in Faran's head. Itachi was too motionless, too calculating, too silent. He was looking through his brother, judging his every move, with a gaze of deep regret. Faran curled up into a ball on the top of the roof, and determinedly kept back tears.

"Cry now and it's all over" he thought to himself, as the same realisation dawned in Sasuke's eyes.

"NO!" yelled Sasuke, "You didn't, you couldn't have... I'll stop you."

Faran saw the seals, and saw the fireball that erupted from Sasuke's mouth. He also saw Itachi batter it away as if it were nothing. Itachi then ran at Sasuke, delivering a punch to his forehead that sent him flying into a wall. Faran had to bite his tongue; the whole thing was painful to look at. So he turned away. Therefore, he heard the yelp of surprise from Itachi, heard a yell of "Nightmare realm", heard the body hit the floor and dimly was aware of the blue glow of a memory erasing jutsu, then afterwards, silence.

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Author's Note: I am going to leave it there for a while, but I have written a lot more of this story. Please review if you like this, or even if you see some gaping error in my writing style.


	4. Chapter 3

3. It must have been a full three minutes later that Faran finally dared to look over the lip.

Itachi was gone. Sasuke was on the floor. Faran slipped down the wall, and checked the pulse of the unconscious boy. He was alive.

"Hello, wake up!" Faran yelled down his ear...no answer, not even a moan. It was then that Faran had an incredible idea. Alright, not such an incredible idea, but it was a decent idea... alright; it was not really anything compared to what he later came up with on the spot. He walked into the nearest house, and trying his hardest to ignore Sasuke's dead parents on the floor, he filled a small bucket with water. He then went outside again, and did the only logical thing to do when trying to wake somebody up whilst armed with a bucket of water. He proceeded to dump two litres of water onto Sasuke's head. Sasuke, spluttered but did not wake up. It was as Faran pondered what to do next, that he had a horrible thought. Mizoshu. His brother had been in the house at the time of the massacre. Admittedly, the house did have an invisibility jutsu on it, but would it have been enough. Sasuke all but forgotten, Faran ran at his full speed for the house, changing direction only when he heard a scream directly on his path. Mizoshu, don't be dead... please don't be dead.

Mizoshu Uchiha had been having a good day. He had beaten his father's clone in a spar and so had been given the day off. This meant a whole day without any work, and total TV freedom. He had decided to fully enjoy the day, and so had started off with his favourite breakfast, then gone on to watch TV, then had his favourite lunch, then gone on to watch TV, and it was just as he was thinking that perhaps he had not watched enough TV that day, that Faran burst in and un-diplomatic TV rights disappeared. Mizoshu was incredibly annoyed at this, what right did Faran have to be coming home early, it was only... wow, was it 6 o clock already, then why wasn't mum or dad home? The second hitch in his day came with the news that Faran brought with him.

"Everybody's dead Mizoshu," he said "the whole clan, everybody... all dead."

"You're kidding right." Said Mizoshu, whose eyes had gone from slits, to normal, to wide, to almost popping out.

"I really really _really_ wish that I was Mizo." replied Faran, "except for Sasuke, he is lying unconscious, but he is not dead.

"Then come on then, we have to help him."

Faran had to scramble to try and keep up with Mizoshu, but in the end it proved futile. Faran had no skill in Taijutsu and Mizoshu was very good at it. By the time Faran caught up with Mizoshu, he was already trying to rouse him.

"Damn it Sasuke wake up!"

"That's not going to work, I already tried it."

As Faran replied to Mizoshu, something in the gutter caught his attention.

"He looks really bad"

"Hmm... yeah" said Faran, who was bending towards the object, almost entranced.

"And why is he so wet?"

Faran stood straight up "... umm I have no idea... he's wet, why would he be wet, I didn't know he was wet, I have nothing to do with him being wet."

"Well he looks quite bad; perhaps we should get a doctor."

"Yeah... that's a good idea." said Faran, whose attention was now taken up by the object in the gutter again. However, as Mizoshu ran off, Faran's attention was caught, and he left the small object. Something about it had just seemed so familiar.

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Author's Note: Well this story has received a good reception. Many views, and even a favorite. I think that I should upload some more.


	5. Chapter 4

4. Sasuke was taken into hospital; apparently the medical ninjas were contacted just in time.

Later that day, Faran and Mizoshu reported the massacre to the Hokage, or at least everything they knew about it. The talk was short and to the point, the two then left the Hokage's office and Mizoshu walked off. Faran, however, just could not take his mind off the object. Two days later, Faran returned to the gutter. There was a finger in it, but that was not the thing that had caught Faran's attention. On the finger, there was a ring. This ring was one that Faran would have recognised anywhere. It was his mother's. In the end, Faran's parents' bodies were never found.

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Author's Note: This might be the beginning of a few very short chapters, but they all represent significant events that are separate from each other, so they are each in a different chapter.


	6. Chapter 5

5. Faran had not meant to run away originally.

It just sort of happened, one day, he just packed up his bags, well, he took the ring, his old kunai, his mother's shark tooth necklace, the book he was reading on how to utilise one's elemental affinity, a bit of food and the clothes on his back. He originally had just meant to run until he left the pain behind. But the pain never went, and he just kept running. Eventually, having never strayed far from the outside world, he got terribly lost. The small amount of food he had soon ran out, and he would have starved because of his lack of knowledge of the outside world, for he was just a small boy who had been overprotected by his mother. He had no knowledge of anything that was commonly done in the world. He didn't even know what money was, and would have quickly starved because he had no way of obtaining food. But this was not to be. Faran somehow learned the art of picking up food from rubbish bins and other scraps. He lived like this for a year, but our story continues before the time that Faran stopped living like this. Indeed, our story continues before Faran had even started to live like this.


	7. Chapter 6

6. Faran was exhausted, hungry but yet still running.

The pain hadn't gone yet. But either way, Faran collapsed from hunger. The blackness was comforting for a time, but then the nightmare's struck. Faran dreamt of red eyes spinning with an active sharingan, the screams of his parents and his brothers, and a katana slowly descending towards him, ticking away the time he had yet to live, and he was powerless to stop it. Then, in the dream, a voice rang out. "Faran... creed of the Uchiha clan." Then everything that had been happening so slowly suddenly sped up, the katana fell, and it was being held by Itachi, his brother was lying dead. Faran sidestepped and looked up at the katana's wielder, just to see his own face, as if reflected in the mirror. An active sharingan was in his opponents eyes, and a collection of seals were working their way up the combatant's body, coming from his neck. Faran was dimly aware of a black chakra enveloping his body, and the power emanating from him. He was 16, a god compared to his younger self. Taking his hand off the katana, the other him rammed his shoulder's into Faran's chest. Faran collapsed.

Oh, by the way, did I mention that my name is Faran Kredo, and this is primarily my story. Since I was there, I should tell this story from my point of view. Of course, at that point, mine and Faran Uchiha's viewpoints were very similar.

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Author's Note: Please remember that Gikyo is reading all of this in a book, and the book itself has just spoken to him telling him that its name is Faran Kredo. This is not a self insert.


	8. Chapter 7

7. I fell back, winded.

But I felt the power in my body and straightened up, throwing my attacker back...Khrafanbvua'agiuh 945, stop it Kraken, I am telling the tale from my perspective. Sorry, please excuse that. I was dimly aware of myself making hand seals, yelling out "Faran Ryu, Kurushii shin no jutsu!" The other one simply laughed.

"Now it is sealed" I said.

"Indeed." Said my other.

Then several things happened at once, the two of us leapt at each other and traded blows, both of us fell back wounded, and then both of us stood up and bowed to each other. Then the sword was a hand, and it was flying past me at a rate that I knew should have been more slowly. Yet as it got past my chest, I knew it was my own hand, and that it was just as deadly as the sword, just as inevitably leading to my death. All of a sudden, I was overcome by a sense of resignation.

I fully extended my arm, and the dream went black.

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Author's Note: And here I will leave you again, with a strange dream, and a survivor of the Uchiha clan named Faran Uchiha, the fan of danger.

Anyway, please review, favorite, etc. (I am always desperate for feedback).


	9. Chapter 8

8. The wolf pup howled with grief.

The little thing had just seen its mother shot with a blow-dart, and skinned in front of its eyes. It was itself, in a cage, and was watching those poachers eat its brothers and sisters. The little thing growled for a second, then moaned piteously. It was a silent call for help that it sent out. One which the universe heard, but what time does the universe have for one small wolf cub. Thus, the cub called out in vain.

I was just waking when he heard the yelp, and was amazed to find a few birds perching on my limp form, and disgusted to see the presents they had given me. So as you can see, as I stumbled on, I was already in less than A good mood. I had almost forgotten everything. Almost. It was when I happened upon the clearing, that I saw the three of them. Full grown men, the lot of them. They were eating some king of foul smelling meat, and jeering a small creature that was locked up in a cage while they were doing it. A lot of details stuck out at me at once. Firstly, the dead wolf pelt on the floor. Secondly, the cuts on the grey thing's hide, the live thing that was in the cage. Thirdly, the limp figures of five more wolves strung up on the trees around me. Fourthly, the rope that the poachers had left unattended. Finally, I noticed the redness over my vision, the face of one of them, it was Itachi's, these men were torturing this cub, even after killing its family. The cub was just so like me. Then I saw my hands reach for the rope of their own accord. My vision began to swirl, and although I saw my own body nimbly tie the knots and then draw the kunai, I swear it was not me who commanded me, something deep inside had awakened, and that something was just like me. Yet I swear, as I advanced like a hunter on the poachers, kunai in hand, the instinct to kill, and the blinding rage, as well as the thoughts of how these people deserved death were not my own.


	10. Chapter 9

Uchiha felt the rope in his hands.

It was an old rope, perhaps older than the men who were now joking, but it was strong, strong enough to serve its purpose. j/[/4][[#'/309572)(%*^4 I_, _Kraken Uchiha began to nimbly tie the knots. I had finally rested control of the one body that I currently shared with the imbecile Faran, but now, now I intended to rain down death on all those who had no place in the new order, the perfect world I intended to create. My work finished, I threw the rope over the branch of a tree, pulled it tight, and slowly placed the noose in the clearing. Then I threw my kunai. The kunai hit its mark with an ease that my other half could have never achieved. (Oh be quiet, you know it is true, no I will not admit that.) I apologise for somebody rudely trying to wrest control of the tale. (Yes I know I have been doing it for quite some time now.) Anyway, the kunai hit its mark, the first man's chest. Running forward, I leapt on to his chest, and stood vertically off it, holding the kunai, and kicked out with my feet. The Result was that I bowled him over, took hold of the kunai, and then pulled it out, kicking off him as he fell at the same time, using him as a spring board to project myself straight at the second man, who had got his wits together in the time it had taken me to take out the first man. Angling my body, I only got nicked by the flashing sword, and as my blood spurted out of the cut on my side, I landed at his feet. I then rolled backwards between his legs, ignoring the wet mud that had now entered my wound, and then slashed my kunai wildly at his legs, hacking them out from under him and knocking him over into me. We had a very short wrestling match, but he was over balanced due to a heavy load he was carrying at his back. Therefore, I came out on top, and drove my kunai between his shoulder blades, feeling the satisfaction of him go limp. It was so satisfying, in fact, that I forgot about the third one, and only remembered as a heavy object hit the side of my head, and the world began to go fuzzy.


	11. Chapter 10

10. I was quite lucky, all things considered.

Most people would call landing in your own trap after being hit on the side of the head by a heavy object, and having it whip you off the ground again, all not doing anything for the cut in your side that now seems to be worse than you originally expected, unlucky. However, it did save my life. The world blurred so quickly as my trap whipped my feet from the ground, so I felt the rush of air from the six darts rather than saw them. However, as I bounced around, suspended by my foot, I saw the six objects, all leaking some green substance, and all stuck in the tree that I was currently dangling from, right where my heart had been just a fraction of a moment before. The curse was what brought me back to my senses. The man with Itachi's face had begun to reload his blowpipe. However, my hands were faster than his. My hands flew through hand seals whilst in combat. The same hand seals that I usually painstakingly struggled over. The adrenaline coursing through my body was enough to provoke a strange change in me. In less than a second, my small hands had made the seals for substitution, and the next thing I knew, it was the man who was dangling upside down by his leg, and I standing with total mobility of freedom. I would have relaxed there, but I don't make the same mistake twice in a row, so, as the man put the blowpipe to his lips, and before he blew, I dived for the only cover that I was close to, namely, the tree.

I heard four thuds and one whistle, paused for a second, then when I heard the clicking of him reloading, I leapt out of the cover I was in. Just to come face to face with him. He must have somehow freed himself.

I. Didn't. Even. Think.

My hands were moving before I knew what I was doing. Screw it, I thought. If I can't beat him, I have to do something crazy. Perhaps if I just... But before I even knew what the "just" part was, my hands had finished what they were doing, and the air rippled.


	12. Chapter 11

11. I had read about the wind scythe technique in a book somewhere.

Of course, I hadn't bothered memorising it. I mean, come on, I didn't even know my affinity at that point. However, I recognised it as it billowed forth from my hands. Thrusting my hands forwards, I threw the air outwards, then twisting them, and slicing down, I created a violent blade out of the air. The surprise on the man's face was evident as soon as he felt the slice that the pure air took out of his flesh. Pressing my advantage, I leapt forwards with my kunai, slashing low at first, and then leaping backwards. I then ran up the tree using kinobori, and was above the tree line before the man could make a grab for me. It was then that my vision swirled, and I felt like I was sinking inside of my skin. I Kraken Uchiha, lost my hold on the body, and the body fell.


	13. Chapter 12

12. SDIfu48q ~{;[;_&$2$^ladkf

Faran here. After seeing my body fall, and losing consciousness, I woke up on something squishy. Again, incredible luck had been on my side. As I fell, I had landed on the man with the blowpipe. I felt incredibly queasy and ached all over, but it could have been a lot worse. I attempted to sit up, but unfortunately, my limbs did not seem to be responding correctly. After several seizures, and a glimpse at the dart in my arm (I now realised why I had only counted five of the six darts that should have been flying past me when I was behind the tree, I lost consciousness again.

Mizoshu was worried. Faran had not come back yet. However, little did he know that Faran would never come back. Faran had begun to die of grief soon after finding his mother's ring. This process would be significantly quickened by a poison dart in the arm.

My previous self died there in that clearing, surrounded by three dead men. But this is not Faran Uchiha's story. This is Faran Kredo's story. For as I lay there, barely aware of my surroundings, an incredible thing happened. The pain went away. The pain that I had been running from went away. That was the end of Faran Uchiha, but as he died of the poison, two beings fully split off from the original. Faran Kredo was his personality, as well as his grief and sorrow. Faran Kredo also took with him all of the his predecessor's other traits, except what Kraken took with him. Kraken Uchiha took his predecessor's rage and anger. He also took his wish for a better world, and some of his sense of justice. He also took the pain and agony of some of what Faran Uchiha had been through, just as I did. Oh, By the way, I am Faran Kredo, you have already met Kraken. I had a really bad childhood, and also have split personalities. LOui745024~[{'=-[]421n This is Kraken... umm... hi. Yeah, brace yourself for a really crazy series of events. You haven't seen nothing yet Gikyo.

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Author's note: Wow, this story has quite a few views, but still not one review. Oh well, It hasn't been up for long. Anyway, just to let you guys know, the random series of letters is when ownership of the story is changing from one of Faran's personalities to another.

Anyway, with so many views, I think that it might be time t ask for a review.

So yeah, when I get a review for this story, I will post more of it. (I still have more of it written).


	14. Chapter 13

13. I did warn you.

As I said, Faran Uchiha died there, and Kraken Uchiha and I were both created from two parts of Faran Uchiha. Don't ask me how it worked. But either way, the poison was soon combated by my body, and so when I came around, I was left with a wolf pup and a deep scar in my right arm. I wasted no time in freeing the wolf pup, and then sat down and considered what to do next. In the end I decided to go back into the village, but not before I had decided to attempt to contact the other entity that had been depicting my movements not too long ago.

"Hello..." I thought "Is anyone there?"

"No, nobody is here, you are talking to yourself and going slightly crazy." came the answer. This was followed by a laugh that sounded very much like my own, and I realized that I was the one that was laughing. The rest of all that was said between us was said out loud, probably freaking out the wolf cub. "Nah, I am just kidding. Pleased to introduce myself, I am Kraken Uchiha, the fourth remnant of the Uchiha clan. Sorry to be the one to break this to you, but Faran Uchiha is not alive anymore... Then who am I? ... You are, well I don't know, but Faran Uchiha began to die of grief soon after the Uchiha massacre. You are the 1st remnant of Faran Uchiha and the third remnant of the Uchiha clan... Then, you are another remnant of Faran Uchiha... Bingo! First time... Well then, if you name yourself Kraken Uchiha, and you took the surname of the original, I take the first name. I am Faran... Faran who? You are going to need a fake name in order to hide yourself. I mean, as soon as Itahi finds out that he missed you, well it ain't pretty. Oh, by the way, your taking this a lot better than I thought you would, hello, are you still there... You are the creed of the Uchiha clan, oh, sorry, I might have drifted off. The creed. Faran. The creed. Faran. You know, my name means danger. The fan of danger. I was named this because my father thought that I would fan the flames of danger, and because of my weakness, I would endanger all those who tried to protect me. Yet hadn't I just proved that I did not need protecting. The creed of the Uchiha clan. Faran...Kredo. The creed of danger. That will be my name. The creed of the Uchiha clan, the clan that I am in that now puts me in danger. It is a suitable name... Good, I am glad you like it, oh, by the way, I hope you don't mind me taking up lodgings in your head, cause I am whether you mind or not... wait, what... hey come back... umm... please... oh, you're gone."

That was how I got my name.

I didn't hear from Kraken again for years, I almost thought that he hadn't ever existed when my rage exploded again.

Author's note: I know that I said that I would not post anymore until I got a review, but I decided that I would post this chapter to keep you interested rather than loose the (possibly non-existent) fans that I have.


	15. Chapter 14

14. I named the wolf pup Kinai.

It was after that, that I began my years of hardship, no home, no food, scavenging was hard, but it was preferable to dying. I didn't have any time to focus on becoming a greater ninja, until I had the idea that if Itachi ever found me, I would not be able to as much as scream before he cut me down. That was why I joined the academy. That was why; I ended up in the fight with those guards.

What, they looked at me funny. Well, it wasn't quite that simple, but they wouldn't let me into the academy. Something about me being too much of a runt. Well, that sort of struck a nerve. The first one had taken a wind scythe to the chest before I even knew what I was doing. Unfortunately, It was a little late to take back the blow now. So, it turned out to be me and a young wolf, both undernourished and undertrained (not to mention without any real weaponry), against two armed guards. Yeah, things never seem to work out for me do they?

The first guard came rushing at me. Was I worried? Nah. As Kinai counter rushed him, I turned my attention to the second guard. I drew my kunai.

"Now you don't want to be doing that little guy," said the guard, "or we may have to explain how you died to the Hokage. Either that, or think about it, if you continue to assault us, I am sure that the prison has a nice little cell right ready for you to be locked up in."

"Nobody calls me runt." I said, with a slightly freaky aura of calmness that made him take a step back, and even freaked me myself out a bit, but he almost instantly recovered from the shock.

"You sure have spunk kid, what is your name, not that it really matters, a little runt like you has no chance against us. Seriously, look at yourself, you look like you haven't seen a meal in weeks." (this was actually more accurate than he expected, it had been one and a half weeks since I had last eaten).

"My name," I said with the same freaky calmness, "is Faran Kredo."

All the while I had been making hand seals, very slowly and behind my back. However, when I heard the roar of triumph that was definitely not Kinai's, I sped up, turning round and yelling at the top of my lungs, "Disorientation Jutsu", I let out the one genjutsu that I knew. Of course it was not very complex, but effective, oh yes. For a second, the man forgot just what he was doing, and that was all the time that Kinai needed. He threw his whole body weight at the man's legs, then with a deft roll and a small leap, he was on top of the man, pinning him to the floor. Then I turned to the other guard. Now it's just you and..." I started to say, but then I saw nothing. "Oh (insert swear word of choice here)" I muttered, as a searing pain ran up my back.

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Author's note: I got a review, and as promised, here's the next chapter (for those of you who share the sentiment of the two personalities being confusing, I will stop those for a bit until I have a better method. (I was already planning to). I know that this is marked adventure/humor, and there has been little enough of the latter so far in this story, but rest assured, now that I have set the scene, I will begin slowly integrating my own sense of humor into the tale... (oh, and if you LOVE Sasuke overly, I would not recommend that you read on for too long. I do not Sasubash, but Sasuke is a bit of a jerk to Faran (sorry, but their personalities do clash). Sakura is possibly even worse to Faran, so if you like her overly, you may wish to stop reading for the same reasons).


	16. Chapter 15

15. My head.

It hurt... a lot. As did the rest of my body really. I was lying on a wooden floor, no, not wood, gravel, boy, I must have smacked my head harder than I thought. There were a lot of shadows about, hey, were those trees, no they were people, but why are people standing all around me. To be honest, did I really care. Yes, yes I did. I guess I still hurt all over, but in a few minutes, I might have recovered enough to do something amazing, like face an army of enemies, or even if I was really feeling good, maybe sit up. I was about to allow myself to lose consciousness again, when one of the tree people spoke.

"Hey, I think he moved." It was an annoying voice, slightly high pitched and way too sweet to actually be concerned about the nine year old who was lying at her, (I decided it must be a her), feet. She sounded more curious, as if I was some kind of creature that had washed up dead on the beach, and that she was poking with a stick.

"Ah whatever, he is becoming a real drag" said another. I decided that even though he sounded slightly depressed, I would not judge him for it, since it was actually more considerate of him to leave me alone to pass out, than to disturb my sleep with a... wait, was that actually a stick that somebody was poking me with, the girl with the annoying voice was actually poking me with a stick. Well of all the rude things, right, I was not going to stand for this, and drastic times called for drastic measures. Therefore, I used the most powerful weapon in my arsenal that I could currently use at that time, however, I am not sure that the groan I emitted had quite the effect I had been looking for. Although I did incur a lot of discussion, things were getting slightly out of hand, especially as the stick was starting to poke me around some very sensitive areas. Therefore, I upped my game, and opened my eyes.

"Darn it", I thought, "they are still there." Oh well, plan B. I ceremoniously fell back unconscious and hoped that when I woke again up that I would have enough energy to maybe, I don't know, sit up and wave this damn gnat away.

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Author's note: if you haven't guessed yet, the "gnat" was Sakura. I think that I will leave you here again for the meantime, but rest assured, I will be back soon. (I think that I actually have people who like this story)


	17. Chapter 16

16. The good news, the gnat was gone, as was her stick.

The bad news, there was a very tall shadow standing over me, and boy, he did not look happy. I would have pretended to be still unconscious, but the man had already seen me.

"Ah, you're awake", he said.

I inwardly groaned at the fact that he had noticed me, but slowly, experimentally, nodded slowly.

"Do you know what a mess you've made?" he asked angrily, obviously straight to the point.

I was able to shake my head meekly in reply.

"Assault on two guards, attempting to break into the academy, did you really expect us to let you in if you tried to force your way in?"

I let out an unearthly groan, and brought my hand away from the back of my neck. It was caked in blood. The man's angry demeanor vanished.

"Wait, are you ok? Oh boy, I didn't realise that you were hurt that badly."

"I should be fine." I muttered weakly back.

"Oh good, I'm Iruka by the way, the chuunin in charge of the academy."

"Faran...Kredo" I muttered back, before falling unconscious.

I was enrolled in the academy the next day.

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Author's note: wow, I wasn't expecting this to get so many views so quickly. Still, I am really grateful that it has. Much more and it might go over the thousand mark. Anyway, I am going to try to finish the prequel before I finish this, for the simple reason that the ending won't make much sense without it. Anyway, Observer Shade has observed and documented, and is very happy that you guys seem to at least tolerate this story. (I will keep updating this, since there is still more written. The true story has barely begun. (in both tales)).


	18. Chapter 17

17. Things started to look up from there.

I never really made much of a name for myself at the academy, and really never showed Kinai to anybody either. He was my trump card, since if worst came to worst in the genin exam, I could always bring in Kinai for the surprise factor. However, I passed the genin exam without too much of a problem. Before the genin exam, I had earned enough to buy a house, food etc., and also found that my parents had left a large sum of money to me, which had been "stolen in the night". I used this money to great effect, and soon actually was living quite a good life. Everything was fine until the day when I was supposed to collect my head band, unfortunately, fate had it in for me, since my alarm clock must have run out of batteries in the night, or at least, it was stuck at 2:30 when I woke up at 8:35, I was supposed to have been there 5 minutes ago. I essentially threw my cloak on, and rushed into the hustle and bustle of everyday life in the square, when I heard the screaming.

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Author's Note: short chapter I know, but I hope that you guys are enjoying the story so far. (I say this again). I will just say that both that review and that favorite made me feel very happy. Observer Shade has observed and documented.


	19. Chapter 18

18. It was a girl, no several girls.

There was a large dust cloud approaching me quickly, and at the front of it was a lone figure who I recognized immediately, Sasuke Uchiha. I ran up a wall, and leant down, offering Sasuke my hand. He took it... then disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Well, when fan girls are frenzied up... well, let's just say that they become unreasonable.

"What have you done with Sasuke!?"

"Umm, well, see, that... is, what is called, a clone." I managed to get out.

"I don't believe you, what have you done with Sasuke?"

It was at this point that I got my wits back together, and began to form coherent arguments.

"Well, see, didn't you notice the poof of smoke, and just at the point when he was touching my hand, well, doesn't that seem a little to you like what happens to a clone when it dissipates?"

"NO! You took him somewhere, give back Sasuke."

I tried one more reasonable argument, looking around the group, I spotted one person who I recognised as a fellow academy student, and took a slight gamble.

"You, I know you." I said pointing at her. "What grade of ninja am I?"

"You" I could almost hear the will to rip me limb from limb in the contempt that she put into the word. "are just an academy student, and from the fact that you are not at the academy now, I would say that you failed the exam."

"Exactly! Would somebody like me really be skilled enough to teleport Sasuke somewhere with a touch?"

But by this time they were beyond reason, and the chant went out, "Rip him apart, free Sasuke!"

"Now be reasonable" I said, slowly backing up the wall, "does it not strike you as odd that Sasuke was running away from you, perhaps it means that, and hey I am only stating what it seems like to-" but by that point I was over the lip of the roof and running, with angry roars behind me. "Don't look now Faran", I said to myself "but I think that there is a group the size of a small army behind you intent on ripping you limb from limb."

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Author's Note: Despite the fact that views are skyrocketing, there are very few people who seem to like this enough to actually say it through review or favourite. So I'm going to add some more incentive. If I get a review or a favorite from any new person, I'll post the whole story that I have so far. If you like my work, please review. Anyway, thankyou for you're continued support in just reading it. Observer Shade has observed and documented.


	20. Chapter 19

19. How did I get myself into these messes?

I was away, and five rooftops away when the five girls who had some sort of ninja training, followed me up the building. I considered stopping and fighting, but there were five of them and one of me, and I had to worry about not killing them. They didn't seem to have any such concerns with me. So I just kept going, and going and going, and after a reasonably clever ploy, which I cannot remember now, I reached the academy, with them only three rooftops away. Ok, no problem, all I had to do was...

See, I never finished that thought, since as I reached the edge of the last roof, I saw a sea of fan girls beneath me. Well, see, my mum had always told me that when you are in a dire situation, and you have barely a second to act, the last thing you wanted to do was stop and think. I had always been told that if you did that, you would lose your momentum, and you would leave yourself open. Sometimes, you just had to do the first thing that came to mind, or do something completely crazy. So... I jumped. I cleared about 20 ft with that one jump, since I had all that momentum behind me, but the crowd was 60ft thick. At the last moment, I substituted with the furthest girl from me, closest to the edge, transformed into her, and began to attempt to push through the last 10 ft before anybody realised what had happened. It was in that moment, that my salvation came, in the form of a voice.

"Hey, what are you girls doing?"

7 ft

"Naruto?... what are you doing here? Last I heard, you failed the exam!"

5 ft

It was in that moment that our eyes met, and I knew that he knew that I was there.

"Oh yeah, well guess what, I was so great a ninja that they let me through anyway. In fact I recon I could take you on easy, that's what a great ninja I am, I am going to be Hokage some day, believe it."

4 ft, and what the heck was this girl doing blocking my path, oh gosh, she knew who I was...

"(Several knuckles are cracked)"

I moved back into the crowd, away from the one that recognised me, another path would have to do, I could see people being parted as she tried to cut me off, but I couldn't be stopped, not now, not when I was so close.

4 ft

3 ft

Change direction again to throw her off, damn these last few feet.

3 ft

"Yeah, I could outdo a bunch of obsessed fan girls like you any day, believe it."

I could feel every eye immediately turn towards him as he said this, but I only had eyes for the goal.

2 ft

Then came the surge. It was the surge of at least fifty people rushing forwards, each wanting to rip Naruto limb from limb. The surge took me off my feet, leaving me sprawled on my back with no transformation to hide my face, and five fan girls who had noticed me, standing over me. Without even conferring, they each took a limb, (one took my head), and pulled.

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Author's note: I have been away for a while, so unable to upload. However, here is the next chapter... enjoy? And please review if you like it or see something that I am doing wrong.


	21. Chapter 20

20. And that was the end of me.

Of course it wasn't, what, how weak do you think I am? I wasn't going to be beaten by a group of fan girls. Well, my mother had once given me a piece of advice. When in a situation, and all looks hopeless, first analyse your situation, find a weak point in the threat, a crack in a wall, a weak person in a group, or anything else, and exploit it. Well, there it was, the pressure on my right arm was less than on my other limbs. With a quick twist, I had it out of the grasp of the 10 year old holding it. She was faster than she looked though, and would have grabbed me again, had I not reached quickly for my holster and drawn out my signature weapon. Old rusty kunai... Go! She seemed a little less sure of herself now that I had a weapon, but that was almost inconsequential. What was important was that I could feel my scalp crying out in pain from the fact that one who had my hair and was pulling. This was making it difficult to concentrate. So I reached back, and scythed off a bit of my uncouth hair (and cut her hand in the process). The ten year old was now no longer a threat, as she saw that I not only had a weapon, but seemed to know how to use it. (You stick the pointy bit in the other guy I had once said to my mum, to which I was doing press ups for an hour).

Anyway, one of my opponents had a bleeding hand, and was too preoccupied with that, and one was cowering in fear, so there were three left. I had one arm, and had enough concentration now to use the escape technique, so I did so. For a second, they were dumbfounded, and by then I was through the door of the academy... safe.

I hastily took my place, and basically pretended everything was normal. Naruto came in a couple of minutes later. He looked pretty beat up, this being the understatement of the year. There were the whispers, of course:

"What is Naruto doing here. Who in their right mind would make _him_ a ninja. I thought he failed."

Me, well besides the fact that he had just saved me from a fate much worse than his own, and the fact that he was known to be a bit of a trouble maker, I had really never paid him much heed. In fact, I think that out of everybody, I treated him best. That is not to say that I had treated him as a friend, I had simply mostly ignored him as I had most of the other students. He had done the same to me in turn.

Anyway, it was then that Iruka entered the room, and everything went silent.


	22. Chapter 21

21. The teams were as follows.

"Ino, Shikamaru, Choji. Kiba, Shino, Hinatata. And... Oh, wait, we have an extra person in the groups this year." said Iruka looking pointedly at Naruto. "Well then, I guess the last team is Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto and Faran.

I stepped out, received my headband (I was already thinking up new ways to use this new resource) and stepped back. I secured the headband around my arm, quite low down, just above the wrist, and it was done. The start of the rest of my life was finally here.

Naruto grumbled about being with Sasuke, Sakura grumbled about being with Naruto, but somehow, I felt that she was not really sad with how things had turned out. Sasuke and I sat silently. He didn't even move beyond getting up to receive his headband, while I glanced at each of my teammates, alternating my gaze between each one, summing each one up, then moving on to the next one.

Sakura was gazing at Sasuke, with an expression that I had never felt, but could place as one which had something to do with his fangirls. Naruto was in a real mood, but I knew from what I had already witnessed, that he was either really brave or really stupid. Sasuke... well, he seemed distant. I had already realised that long ago, the friend of my brother had died. Sasuke was now unreadable. I didn't know what to make of him yet. Out of all of my team, he was the one that unsettled me most.

Suddenly, from nowhere, Naruto yelled above the crowd: "Hey, Iruka sensei, why does a great ninja like me have to be stuck in a team with a low life like Sasuke?"

"Naruto, the teams are built to create a balance. Sasuke scored the highest, whilst you scored the lowest. Therefore, you are on the same team."

There was a lot of laughter at that. I glanced over at Sakura. The girl was a fangirl. The chances were that she had made it through the exam in the bottom half at least. Still, the chances were that the team was already more than strong enough with Sasuke in it, so long as he had some backup. All of a sudden, I was left in doubt of my own abilities. How weak must I be to end up in this already formidable team? If I had been strong, I probably would have been put in the Ino-Shika-Cho group. The other group was also strong enough, and although the team was well composed to work together, that team would need an extra person for some added strength. So just how weak was I, that Iruka actually considered me a hindrance?

"Alright" called Iruka over the newly created raucus of the hall. "Come back here tomorrow, and meat your jonin teachers. Until then, you have the rest of the day off."

Everybody got up, the hall was once again filled with chatter, as the new teams got together. I too got up, but did not go towards the door as the others did. I stepped quickly forward, then with a slight step to the left, I intercepted Naruto before he made it to the door.

"Hey, why do you hate Sasuke?" I said, grabbing him by the shoulder. I had decided to put thoughts of my strength aside for now.

Naruto almost hit me, but just controlling himself, he said, "Don't tell me that you're his fanboy. I hate him because he is annoying, and he is so full of himself."

"Not at all, I was only asking, because I am now in your team, and decided to get to know you. Soooo... I'm Faran Kredo, nice to be on your team." I offered my hand to the sandy haired boy. For a second, he hesitated, but then he took my hand and grinned up at me. (being slightly shorter than me)

"Naruto Uzumaki, the ninja who's going to be Hokage, believe it!"

I said nothing, but smiled slightly sadly, memories of Mizoshu swimming back. That had been his dream too.

"You know," he continued in a slightly more subdued tone of voice, "you're the first person who has ever been nice to me."

"Hey," I replied, "you can't be all that bad. After all, you saved my as-uh hide."

For a second, we both looked at each other, at my near miss at saying something that I had not meant, and then naruto said something that made me blink. "Hey, wanna get some ramen?" For a second, I could only stare, then I broke out laughing. "Sure." Just like that, for the first time in a while, we both had a friend.

I later discovered that Iruka had not said what else was on his mind when Naruto had called out. "Faran scored second highest on the test, coming level with Kiba and Shino. If any other teacher was setting up the teams, they would have put them in the Ino-Shika-Cho group, but he would have been wasted there. Faran just doesn't have the raw power to help there... but he's clever. Not as clever as Shikamaru mind you, but clever enough to double the team's effectiveness if they just listen to him. Still, maybe I would have put him in the other team if it weren't for that note from the Hokage insisting that he went into this team."

Author's (not Hokage's) note:

Well, I believe that this is going quite successfully so far, and I am now posting this to the point at which I am going to have to start writing it again, so updates will become less frequent now. Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed it up until now. Also, we have broken the 100 views mark. Happy me. However, I still only have one review, and one favourite... no follows. PLEASE REVIEW... please?


	23. Chapter 22

22. Ramen...hehehe. That would be the last time that Naruto ever paid.

It was weird, but somehow, I ended up feeling completely refreshed after the meal. Almost as if my chakra had been completely restored. Naruto turned his wallet upside down, and emptied the contents onto the table, the payment barely covered my own costs. Looking across the table, I saw something that made me raise an eyebrow at Naruto. He had eaten 20 bowls in the time that I had eaten one. Naruto looked piteously at me. For a second, I was almost tempted to fork over for a small amount, but then, I noticed something weird about Naruto's wallet. Reaching into the wallet, I pushed my finger between two folds, and opened up the hidden compartment. I raised an eyebrow at Naruto as the same amount again fell out. I was still about to pay for my own ramen, when I noticed something on the wall. There was a sort of... bulge on the wall. Now I was pretty certain that that hadn't been there earlier. Not just that, but it was a different colour to the rest of the wall. Something was wrong. I slowly tapped Naruto on the shoulder. As he turned towards me, I motioned with my head towards the bulge, and raised an eyebrow at him. I was not really expecting his response.

"Konohamaru, that is so obvious!" he yelled, causing a few others at the ramen stand to turn enquiringly towards him.

It took me a moment to figure things out. Then, I laughed.

"Wow boss, you must be the greatest ninja ever. You saw through my disguise again!"

"Yeah, I guess I am", replied Naruto, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm going to be honest... it really wasn't that difficult." I said.

Naruto looked like he was about to try to muffle me or something, but Konohamaru turned to me first.

"Hey, who are you? You must be pretty good to be able to see me as well... hey, boss, is this guy giving you trouble, should I get rid of him for you?" said the small boy

"I could ask you the same question... who are you?" I replied, just managing to slip a word in edgeways.

"Nah, he's a friend of mine. Faran, this is Konohamaru, Konohamaru, meet Faran, one of my new teammates," Naruto said, cutting me off.

"And I'd like to see you try kid, I seriously doubt that you could get rid of me."

"Hey I am-" Konohamaru began, but I put my sleeve over his mouth. I had just seen something that made my blood run cold. It was only a trickle, but slowly, a large number of girls were arraying themselves outside the ramen stand. Had they seen us? I mentally flipped through some options. Wind scythe would allow me to take out a large number at once, but no... I wasn't going to open fire on these girls... well, not with lethal force anyway. I could use that basic genjutsu, the disorientation technique again, and then try to barge through in the narrow opening, but that was a single target technique, and even if I could move that fast, there was too much chance to get grabbed by the others. Nope, there was just too much that could go wrong with that plan.

I released Konohamaru, and pointed he and Naruto towards them. Naruto nodded, and then disappeared, with konohamaru down a trap door, that they hastily closed and bolted behind them.

"So much for loyal friends," I muttered under my breath as I rapped quietly on the door. No use.

I could try distracting them with clones. That had potential, but it could also create enough chaos that they could stumble across the real me. Well, it was better than going out without anything. Alternatively, I could transform into somebody else and- oh S**t. They've spotted me. Well, I guess that plan is out of the window. Well, I always did love substitution for quick escapes. The trick would be timing. Let them get as close as possible, so that they don't notice me leaving from the back of the tent. A few handseals later, and I was on my feet and running, fully expecting to hear angry screams behind me.

"Here we go again," I muttered. Then I paused, slightly confused. Was it my imagination, or were those screams moving in the opposite direction.

Turning around, I noticed three things. Firstly, there were no girls hot on my trail intent on ripping me limb from limb. Secondly, the majority of the girls seemed to be running after two figures, one very short, and the other wearing a colour that no self respecting ninja would usually wear. Thirdly, that perhaps my friends hadn't abandoned me, and that perhaps it would be rude now to abandon them.

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Author's note: Umm, firstly, can I ask what that most recent review means (if you ever come back to my story). Is that something that I have done wrong, or were you referring to the fact that another Uchiha could become a problem?

Secondly, can I say how demoralised I am that I barely have any reviews, and both of them are anonymous, so i can't reply to them. PLEASE review. Even if it is just some random comment, since it tells me that somebody is reading and enjoying this story. I also welcome criticism, everything from "go home you stupid person and never write again" to "Your grammar is really bad". I will take anything in what you say, and try to find a way to improve with it. PLEASE review... please?

I will post the next chapter when I get another review, or if I get a pm about betaing this story.

Anyway, Observer Shade has Observed and documented, please enjoy.


	24. Chapter 23

22. I took to the rooftops.  
It was of course the better option, the streets being crowded with screaming fangirls, I could hardly attempt to make any difference if I couldn't even force my way through the crowd. Fortunately for me, there didn't seem to be any ninja amongst them, or if there were, they weren't using the same method of transport as I was. Even so, encumbered with attempting to push through a crowd as each of the fangirls was, they had a bit of a head start on me, and moving via the rooftops is never as quick as on the floor (there is a reason why ninja don't walk in irregular leaps on the floor, but the varying sizes of rooftops and the varying distances needed to leap between them often meant that you had to do so when moving through the upper routes). Now you may argue that a rooftop runner can take a more direct route when moving, I would disagree. The further you can leap, the more direct route you can take, but the first rule of moving on a rooftop is that you never take any leap that you are not certain that you cannot make. If you can't make it, you move off at right angles until two roofs come close enough together for you to make the jump. You then have to work your way back. Now whilst everybody knows the rough layout of the streets around town, very few people know the quickest routes across rooftops, meaning that a certain amount of trial and error is involved, and it can be easy to get lost or worse, to find yourself going off on such a detour that you are further away from your target than when you started.

The streets would be no different, only people tend to know the layout of them, and you usually know where the one you are taking goes. Plus they are made for transport. The roofs are not, nobody knows them that well, and of course, everybody's routes change as the distance they can leap changes, as well as the fact that sometimes they feel a little more confident than others. However, by the time you're chuunin, you can usually cover the roofs as easily as the floor. That wasn't the case for me, and right now time was of the essence.

The girls were packed below me as I flew over their heads, running along the edge of an especially flat roof in order to keep tabs on them. I was moving faster than the mob as a whole was, in fact quite a bit quicker, although they had a head start, and I had to be at the front to make any difference. Surprisingly (or not so if you know how few people ever look up, especially with their attention diverted on other things), they hadn't noticed me yet.

I moved away from the edge of the roof, and leapt a slightly risky gap, reaching in front of me to catch the edge in case I didn't make it. It was close, but I actually made the lip of the next roof without any difficulty, staggered slightly since I had actually been aiming to catch the lip, then fell, tucking my outstretched arm underneath me and pushing my momentum into a roll.

Up a second later, I was instantly charging towards the next lip, building the momentum I would need for those long jumps. I could hear the screams of the fangirls all around me, but there was no way of knowing where exactly Naruto and Konohamaru were in relation to me. A glance below me as I leapt the next building showed me the rough direction they were moving, and I made a correction of about 10 degrees as I ran for the next lip, flying over that gap like an eagle (I could probably have just stepped over it).

For a second it occurs to me that this was pretty much what I was doing before my... this was pretty much what Faran Uchiha was doing before his family died, running towards them with a folish idea that he could help but without any real plan. I hastily come up with one, and then get moving again. Hopefully, this would work, I shapeshifted into a fangirl that I had seen earlier pursuing me across the rooftops, and then move onwards, not even having lost a second performing the handseals (half a second perhaps, I was no genius then).  
I then moved onwards, correcting my movement by the flow of fangirls, cheering and rallying them on as I did so to complete the ruse. The plan was simple, but then the best ones always were. Elaborate plans had too much that could go wrong with them (unless they are elaborate to prevent things from going wrong, but then you start to get into thinking that your opponent might have fought of this, and therefore you shouldn't do that, but then he might have thought that you would have fought of him thinking of that, in which case... it gets complicated).

Anyway, the plan was to leap in at the last moment as if I wanted to grab Naruto, grab him and then "beat him up". Namely, I was going to fake attack him and use a very minor illusion to make bruises and such appear. I just had to make sure that I got to him before the fangirls did. I then had to utterly disgust them with the brutality of my "attack" on Naruto to the point at which they wouldn't want to hurt him any further. After that, I leave Naruto "in a ditch" and walk off, crisis averted (while Konohamaru sneaks off using the spectacle of Naruto that I give as a distraction). It should work if I was lucky. (Charisma and creativity were key elements of gnejutsu and I was good with that, so it only followed naturally that I could pull off such a simple bluff without any problem).

I cleared another gap, and there they were, all six of them... Six? Since when were there three Narutos or three Konohamarus. For some strange reason, all I could think was that the ramen of the universe was doomed, before my brain clicked that at least two of them must be shadow clones. After that, I simply checked the chakra of each of them, and discovered that each was exactly the same. There wasn't even any difference between any of the konohamarus and the Narutos. Satisfied that Naruto had this inder control, I simply crouched low on a rooftop and waited for the fangirls to run past in pursuit of all six of the Naruto clones, and then vaulted down to the floor. Bending my legs as I touched down to cushion the impact, released the transformation and whistled a little tune as I wandered back to the ramen stand, where I was certain that I would find my friends.

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Author's Note:  
Sorry about how long that took to get out, and sorry that this story has been poorly written up until now (I will rewrite it at a later date). Anyway, I was informed by a fan that this was their favourite story, and so this is what I will write, along with footsteps as that has had a very positive response so far.

I am now on summer holidays, yay. That means that I will get a little bit more time to write, so a few updates may be approaching. (I am still trying to get around some problems in getting from A to B in origins, so that one may stay where it is for a while). Anyway, thanks for reading this stuff up to here, much appreciated. Just for that. Now if you could drop a review or a favourite or therwise show that you like (or dislike) it... well, I'd be happy.


	25. Chapter 24

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, and the day in which we were to meet our jounin instructor came the very next day.

I'm not certain what I was really expecting from my teacher, but I knew that this was not it.

By now I had stopped standing and waiting for my "teacher", had taken a seat at my desk and started practising my hand seals. My hand seals were neither the quickest nor the most accurate. Those honours belonged to Sasuke and Sakura. However, if you took both accuracy and speed into account, mine were second only to Sasuke's. If you considered chakra control there as well, I was probably the best in the class at weaving techniques. I was told that between chakra control and hand seals, I lost a total of 1% more chakra than I had to on average, again, still worse than Sakura, but with my speed, I was already better than most higher class genin in that department. Still, never hurts to stay in practice. They'd only get quicker if I kept at them.

I spent about five minutes warming up my fingers before really beginning. In a normal fight, I wouldn't have time to do that, but as a fight was not at hand, and my team mates may be watching, I decided that it was best to be showing my best. Admittedly, I could only add about 5% speed like this, but every little bit helps. Then my hands began blurring through the few simple techniques that I knew. I'd have to learn more later, but later could wait for now. Actually, I had never really considered how I might need to learn more, spending time up until now mastering what I had rather than branching out into more obscure areas. It meant that I lacked flexibility, and that was an issue that I would have to deal with soon.

Sasuke, of course, only took a brief glance at what I was doing, sniffed, and went back to waiting with his hands clasped together. Sakura looked like she was about to say something about my hand seals, then caught a glimpse of Sasuke and went back to waiting for Kakashi. Naruto, on the other hand, although he couldn't detect my chakra control (which was pretty close to perfect when doing the few basic things I knew), was pretty impressed by my blurring hands.

"Hey, how'd ya do that Faran?"

I took a break, and shook my slightly aching hands before answering "Practice, lots of practice. Start slowly and work at it until you get them faster."

Naruto spent a few minutes trying to copy my hand seals, I moved a little, while going a bit slower so that he could copy them more easily. After all, not all of us can have access to a sharingan. It took him those few minutes to figure out that he really needed to start more basic than my speed, and then the next few to get bored with the exercise. By now, I too was getting pretty tired of all of this waiting. Standing up, I started walking around the room, all the while performing my techniques, holding back the chakra at the last moment so as not to cause any real damage to the area. The pacing helped to delay my boredom for another few minutes, but eventually, that too was beginning to become mind numbingly tiring.

Seeking for more variety, I walked up the wall whilst weaving my seals, and started pacing the ceiling, creating more of a challenge for myself. Simultaneously keeping a large amount of chakra static in my feet, whilst flowing chakra to the relevant parts of my body to perform my techniques. Sasuke again glanced up, nodded at me, although I wasn't certain if it was an approving nod, or just him twitching. I realized that he too was training now, shifting into all of the various stances that I had never really been able to master, that my body would never quite slip perfectly into.

I was dimly aware of Naruto arguing with Sakura over something, but by then I was only focusing on my hands, my chakra, and my imaginary opponents. I began to fade out the real world, and simulate a battle between my opponents and myself. Admittedly, this was terrible practice for reality, since I knew everything that they were about to do, and they knew everything that I was about to do, but it did help to pass the boredom.

I narrowly avoided a sword swing from imaginary opponent 2, bending back and detaching myself from the ceiling whilst blasting him with a rush of sharpened air. He too detached himself from the ceiling to dodge my return attack, but fell right into the path of my second technique that I was already weaving seals for. Disorientated, his mind slipped from the present situation for just a second, and that second was all that was needed for him to smash his head on the floor, crushing one of the desks as he did so.

I allowed myself a smile, and then cursed myself for doing so as the world rocked and imaginary opponent 1 sent my feeling of up and down completely haywire, and my world became a blur. I could only leap in any direction (was it up, down, left, right? I would never know) to avoid imaginary opponent 3's blast of fire, getting singed in the process. I then released myself from the genjutsu and sent another disorientation technique at opponent 2, just to make sure they stayed down, before turning immediately to opponent 1, the true danger here. If this had been real, my chakra would have run out a while ago, but I was only simulating these opponents and my techniques in my mind.

In an attempt to make myself less accessible to opponent 1, I made a few hand seals, sending a clone running at both of my enemies. Two more versions of myself jumped onto the ceiling, and began weaving seals. Both opponents simply walked through the clones, having already gotten to know me well enough to know that I was not a taijutsu user and so was going to be one of the ones hanging back in a less accessible position. Big mistake opponent 1. The real me slammed into them, taking them off of their feet, my hands raining my relatively weak blows upon them to keep them from making hand seals, although they were also pretty frail apparently, since they fell unconscious pretty quickly.

The battle continued for a while, but eventually my opponents got me. They always did. After all, how could I beat an opponent who knew my every move before I did, and who was only limited by my imagination? Still, it leads to the question: did that mean that I had just beaten myself or that I had just lost to myself. It made my head hurt thinking about it, so after a few seconds, I stopped doing so.

The others, by now, were looking at me rather queerly. I didn't blame them. It isn't usually considered normal to leap around fighting things that aren't there. I placed a hand behind my head and sheepishly took a seat at my desk, getting out a few pieces of paper and writing down a few jutsu theories that had just occurred to me. Nothing to beat my current jutsu creation project, but you never knew when you might just look back through your notes and find something truly amazing that you hadn't fully appreciated before.

And yet Kakashi still hadn't shown up. My hands were aching from seals, and now I was beginning to develop writer's cramp. Man, when was he going to show? I saw Naruto trying to set a trap for him. If anybody asked, I wasn't involved.

Kakashi didn't appear for full ten minutes more, during which time, I simply wrote a few theories and random thoughts down. After all, my head wasn't big enough to contain its own greatness at times. I had to have it down on paper or I would forget it.

Surprisingly, Kakashi walked right into Naruto's prank. I looked up, noticed that it had hit, and then disinterestedly went back to writing. Yep, totally not involved.

"Very funny," said Kakashi.

Not involved... not involved... but he couldn't be that great of a ninja if he didn't notice it. Hey, why was he looking my way? I'm not involved!

Before any of us could really say anything, Kakashi had already removed the chalk from his hair, and was now looking quite... strangely at us. I wasn't certain if I liked him or not.

"Follow me," he said simply, and left the room without checking to see if we were following him. A little dumbstruck, each of us did as he had requested.

He led us to an area overlooking a large part of the village, and told us to sit ourselves down on the stairs in the area. I took an opportunity to try to get to know the rest of my team.

"Hey Sasuke, I heard you got the highest score in the year. Not bad, but why do you have so many fangirls?"

"Shut up loser," he muttered.

All right, maybe I had started out on the wrong track, maybe the fangirls were a sore issue.

"Err, fine. Since we're going to be working on the same team, it might be best if we know each other. I'm Faran."

"I said, shut up loser."

Hmm, ok, think now. He's an Uchiha. He's been through bad times just like me. But from what I hear, he's also pretty obsessed with trying to get revenge.

"I was just saying that I was quite impressed by what my research on you uncovered. You have quite the skill set."

"Either you shut up now, or I beat you to the point at which you cannot talk any more. You really are starting to sound a little pathetic, and I don't need people like you slowing me down when I am trying to get my revenge on my brother."

All right, fine. I wasn't certain what else I could do, and I didn't think that anything I could have said would have worked. I simply raised an eyebrow at Naruto and then lay back.

"So Sakura, why did you decide to become a ninja?" I started.

"Did you not hear Sasuke, you idiot? He said, shut up!"

Fine, just fine. Have it their way, I wasn't going to argue. They had obviously made their decision.

Kakashi slouched back on a railing.

"So to start with, I think that we should all get to know each other a bit better," he said, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened, but giving Sasuke and Sakura pointed looks. What had me puzzled was that he was giving me a similar look. Why me? What did I do now? "So I think that we should all say a bit about ourselves. Our likes, dislikes, and so on."

"Why don't you go first sensei, just to show us what you mean?" asked Sakura, causing me to cringe. It was fairly obvious what he meant, but he reacted patiently.

"All right, my name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes... I'd rather not say. My dislikes... hmm, well there are some things I guess. My dreams for the future... I'm really not sure. Ok, who's next?"

I raised an eyebrow behind my sleeve, but Sakura simply started:

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes..." she looked at Sasuke and giggled.

"My dislikes," she looked pointedly at Naruto and me.

"And my dreams for the future," she looked again at Sasuke and giggled.

I shook my head incredulously.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I dislike a lot, and I don't particularly like anything. My dreams for the future are to rebuild my clan and to kill a certain person."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I really like ramen, but I'm not overly keen on large mobs of fangirls. As for my hopes for the future, I'm gonna be Hokage."

I smiled slightly. How come they all wanted to do that? For a second I considered what I should say. The honest answer would be something that I would never say.

"My name is Faran... Kredo," I paused. My likes included reading, playing with my wolf and staying alive whilst my dislikes included death, intense pain and disregarding life.

I guess you could say that I loved life and everything in it that enriched it, and hated death and all things related to it (including pain and people who are so detached from it that they see it as nothing). My hopes for the future... well, I was kinda aiming to make it to my twenties, but that was so unlikely that I hadn't really considered any further than there. If a random ninja mission didn't get me, Itachi probably would as my reputation grew. Still, I was one of the last Uchihas and felt that I owed my clan to at least try at being a ninja. That, and it was a little extra protection if Itachi ever did come calling (for all the good it would do, since to Itachi, I still wasn't much better than a civilian).

"My likes... ... ... hmm, never really considered it, but I guess you could say that I like things happening. I enjoy variety so long as it doesn't get dangerous. I'm not overly keen on people who make premature assumptions or who are just plain mean or stupid. I guess that overall, it can be best summarized as I like and dislike... people."

I left out hopes for the future, but nobody dragged that up and I was glad for that, although Sasuke (and a second later Sakura) snorted at what I had just said.

Kakashi again ignored this.

"Well, I have no idea beyond your academy reports what you can actually do, and so I feel that the lot of you should go on a small mission for me. This is going to be the sort of mission that you are going to be doing for a while and so it will do you some good to familiarize yourselves with the sort of thing that you are expected to do."

Each of us leaned forward expectantly, ready for our first mission. Hopefully it wouldn't be something too difficult, but...

"I want you to find me a bottle of a shampoo known as 'Grumba'. It's what I use for my own hair."

If I had had a photographic memory, I would probably have had quite a few laughs at the looks on our faces as the "mission" deflated each of us like a few popped balloons.

"Hey, what the hell? We aren't your personal servants or anything. We didn't sign up to be ninja for this!" yelled Naruto. Kakashi simply grinned at him.

"Come on," I muttered.

"No, Faran, he can't just use us as his slaves as he likes!" protested Naruto.

"The sooner we find this shampoo, the sooner we can get him to teach us some real stuff, and the sooner we can become stronger ninja. I doubt that the Hokage would have assigned us, or at least, he wouldn't have assigned the last Uchiha and all around perfect person Sasuke (my voice was practically dripping with sarcasm) this guy if he was no good," with that, I walked off in search of Grumba.

It was of course true. The sooner we found his shampoo, the sooner we could get trained, and the more chance I would stand against Itachi when he came (and the larger chance that my unrealistic dreams for the future would come to pass).

I set off, Naruto and the others reluctantly following.

"Hmm, well that worked well, I'll have to find more things for them to do so that I can read my book some more. These runts are nothing but a distraction."

My ears pricked up. Had I really just heard Kakashi say that? Something told me that maybe getting training wouldn't be all that simple after all...

* * *

Author's Note: I now have a beta, so I am not asking for any more offers (although feedback on the story is still pretty useful in the form of reviews likes and follows... please)

So anyway, I wonder if you guys will figure this "mission" out (Faran already has).

Oh, and if ever I make a scenario in which Faran seems unrealistic, please bare in mind that this was actually an rpg game that ran until the chuunin exam stage (for the base story and Faran's thoughts anyway). So my playing of Faran meant that he couldn't know anything OOC, since I didn't (hadn't read the main series at that point). Anyway, I liked Faran so much that I decided to base this story on him.

(No this is not just a transcribed rpg game. It happened a long time ago, so only the scenarios and the solutions that I came up with are in my head. Plus, a lot of this is also fully original, but by now, I have a good idea of how Faran reacts to things.

Anyway, enjoy and all of that, and I will probably rewrite the first bits again once I have finished up to the start of the Zabuza arc.


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